Most voters continue to blame the struggling economy on the recession that began during the Bush administration, but the number that trusts their own economic judgment more than the president’s is at a new high.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that 65% say they trust their own economic judgment more than the president’s. Prior to this survey, this finding ranged from 49% to 63% since Barack Obama took office in January 2009. Twenty-four percent (24%) of voters trust Obama’s economic judgment more than their own, which ties the lowest level of trust in the president to date. Another 12% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Since Obama took office, the number of voters who trust his economic judgment more than their own have ranged from a low of 24% to a high of 39%.

However, 52% of voters say the nation’s current economic problems are due to the recession that began under George W. Bush. Forty-three percent (43%) blame Obama’s policies for the poor state of the economy. Voters were more evenly divided on this question in June.

In surveys since May 2009, 47% to 62% of voters have blamed the nation's economic woes on the recession that began under the previous president. In those same surveys, 27% to 48% have blamed the policies of the current president.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on August 21-22, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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